Heretofore, a variety of finger and palm guards have been disclosed. One of them is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,363,508 issued Nov. 15, 1994 to Ok C. Kim. The guard is a pair of tubular members which fit over the middle and index fingers of a user's hand from about the middle joint to the base of the fingers. Both tubular members are connected by individual bellows to sheath-like leaves which overlap each other and are connected in about the same plane to each other by a rivet. The rivet connection permits the user's fingers to move naturally toward and away from each other.
Another guard is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,487 which issued Jun. 23, 1987 to Schaeffer. The guard is a helically shaped flat band. A portion of the band intermediate the ends of the band can be positioned on the inside of the middle knuckle of a user's middle finger. One end of the band is wrapped around the middle finger to overlie the knuckle at base of the middle finger on the back of the user's hand, while the other end of the band is wrapped around the distal portion of a user's middle finger and terminates with a tab which overlies the extended end of the user's middle finger.
Still another form of palm and finger guard is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,626, issued May 28, 1996 to Schaeffer. The guard is a disk-shaped plate which is dished, and in cross-section is a portion of a substantially spherical surface. A stem extends from an edge of the dish to a point on the edge of a ring shaped band for a barber to wear around the base of his middle finger. The band and stem hold the dish shaped plate over the fleshy part ofthe barber's hand adjacent the base of his middle finger. The stem may be slipped under the ring and positioned to hold the dish shaped plate over the exact places to be protected on the barber's hand, or the stem may be bent in order to position it more exactly and comfortably.
Other protective guards are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,689,828 to Brewer (a Y-shaped sleeve for two fingers, with a yoke and wrist-band for holding the sleeve in place); 4,097,931 to Hirose (a partial glove enclosing all but the tips of the wearer's first three fingers); 5,018,221 to Romandetto (a glove with a shock-absorbent material releasably attached to it on the front side or the back side of a joint); 5,081,715 to Mascia (a layered protective pad with straps holding it in place over the palm of a wearer's hand and wrist); 4,507,804 to Consigny (a bendable finger guard which includes resilient stems on either side of a finger to be protected and ovoidal lamellae pivotally connected to the stems to overlap one another all along the back of a finger); 4,908,881 to Field (a pliable sheath which is generally cylindrical and is applied over the distal portion of a finger to cover the fingertip and fingernail); and 5,450,626 to Sorrels (a flexible sleeve made into a tubular member to cover the middle and terminal phalanges of a finger or a thumb, with hood-like extensions at each end on the dorsal side extending in one direction to the end of the finger and in the other direction to the end of the finger's medial joint).
In contrast to the foregoing, it is one of the objects of this invention to provide a ring made of rigid material such as metal which a barber can conveniently slip on to protect the skin along the metacarpal knuckles of the fingers which he uses to lift strands of hair for cutting from being nipped by his scissors.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a ring made of rigid material such as metal which a barber can conveniently wear to protect the fleshy part of his palm adjacent the bases of the fingers which he uses to lift strands of hair for cutting from being nipped by his scissors.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a protective ring which a barber can conveniently slip on and wear throughout the entire time of cutting a client's hair without limiting the movements of the fingers which he uses to lift strands of hair to be cut.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a protective ring made of rigid material such as metal which a barber can wear on one finger having flanges which are contoured to the knuckles areas adjacent to the bases of the fingers which he uses to lift strands of hair for cutting and also contoured to the fleshy palm side of those fingers adjacent the metacarpal knuckles.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a protective ring which combines the functions of protecting the skin of the barber's knuckles and palm adjacent to the bases of the fingers which he uses to life strands of hair for cutting, and also of providing the full range of finger movement which a ring band at the base of one finger permits, as well as the decorativeness which a contoured, sculptured ring gives to a viewer.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a protective ring made of rigid material such as metal for a barber to use which is equally easy to store in a drawer with the rest of the barber's tools and also to put on one's hand when it is time to give a client a haircut.